It's not a loop hole, it's the PDGA getting soft on the definition of Pro vs Am. http://pdga.com/documents/2008/08PlayerDivisionsGrid.pdf Note the bottom right corner.
Yeah, I know he was playing Am legally under the new rules, it isn't exactly what can be called a loop hole but it smells like one in this case. I'll be you a dollar this guy plays Open next week and for the rest of the season. It just ain't right I tell ya. But besides the fact that it makes the PDGA look like they don't know what they're doing it also makes Michael Robinson the current poster child for sandbaggers everywhere. I guess you can't blame him for doing it, the rules allowed it and he just took advantage of it. I'm sure he still sleeps well at night.
I'm willing to listen to opposing viewpoints defending this guy's right to do this and why it isn't that big of a deal..... anyone want to offer one up? Beuller? Anyone?
This is one of the reasons I am considering stepping down to intermediate again...it's almost like making the Adv division a Pro2 division and doesn't encourage average players (i.e. myself) to "move up".
A sandbagger is a nasty species of golf vermin who lies about his true playing abilities - making himself seem worse than he is - in order to gain advantage in tournaments or bets.
We all know what a sand bag is, but how did bags of sand enter the golf lexicon?
First, the word doesn't derive from the type of sand bags we're all familiar with. It's not the defensive sand bags - those used for flood control, lining foxholes, and so on - but the offensive sand bags that give us the word "sandbagger."
Gangs and street toughs of the 19th century used sand bags as a weapon of choice. Take a sock or small bag, fill it with sand, wrap it tightly, and wail away on someone (well, don't actually wail away on someone, but imagine that you are) and you'll see how effective a weapon a small sand bag can be.
Gang members used such weapons to intimidate their foes or average citizens. To threaten and bully the populace.
This definition of sandbagger - a person who uses a sand bag as a weapon - can still be found in many dictionaries; it's the first definition for the word in most older dictionaries.
But the word didn't go directly from its gangland origins into golf; there was an intermediary step in its adoption by the sports world, and golf, to mean someone who misrepresents his ability to gain an advantage.
According to the website Word-Detective.com, that intermediary step was poker.
Say you're in a poker match and you're dealt a fantastic hand. If you place a huge bet right off the bat, you might scare most of your poker mates into folding. Instead, you might choose to bet small amounts, hoping to keep your opponents in the match, increasing the pot, up until the moment you show your cards.
As Word-Detective.com puts it, the poker meaning "... described a player who held off raising the stakes in order to lull the other players into a false sense of security. The poker sandbagger would pounce late in the game, clobbering the other players with his good hand."
The poker player, in other words, misled his opponents about how good his hand was ... until it was time to whip out the "sand bag" and beat those same opponents with it.
And that's how "sandbagger" came to have its golf meaning.
